"HEY HERMAN! Come on down", they yelled at the ghost!

This is a ghost encounter I believe you will find very interesting. I was stationed in Würzburg, Germany with the 3rd Infantry Division Band. Twice a year, we would perform in Berlin, in the spring for their Armed Forces Day parade and in the fall for their German-American Festival.

While there, we would hang out at the building of the Berlin Brigade Band. It was on Andrews Kaserne in West Berlin. That particular kaserne had been one of the locations where the Nazi’s conducted some of their “medical” experiments. There was a woman who came to the gate of the installation almost every day, waiting for her husband to come. Apparently, during the war, he was brought in there and never returned.

Now the Berlin Band’s building was a eerie place. Members of the band would always talk about the building’s ghost, who they called Herman. They had even put out a headstone in front of the building with Herman’s name on it. They told us of strange noises during the night, such as foot steps and the clanging of the fire bell. During the day, Herman was said to “live” in a non-working elevator car in the basement of the building. My last time there, in May of 1980, I decided to check it out.

Another band member went to the basement with me. We walked inside the elevator car. Looking up, we saw that the escape hatch was closed. My friend went and got a broom, which we used to push the hatch door open to where it laid flat on the roof of the car.

We started yelling up into the elevator shaft saying things as “HEY HERMAN!! Come on down” and other silly things. After a few minutes, the hatch door lifted up and slammed shut! My friend ran out as fast as he could! I stood there thinking “cool!” I can’t explain that naturally at all. It appeared that Herman was real. There is no way that door went from laying flat on the car roof to suddenly flying up and slamming down!

I wasn’t scared at all, but the other guy, ran off!

I’m not sure if that building still stands. Once the US Army moved out of Berlin, anything could have happened to the entire complex. I’m thinking that it was demolished and replaced with apartment buildings, but I can’t be sure.